A photo diary of my individual or volunteer hikes/patrols on Old Rag Mountain.
Note 1: My writings are personal expressions and should not be taken as official positions of any of the organizations I have volunteered for.
Note 2: Double click pictures for higher resolution.
Note 3: Clicking on any of the labels in the Labels List will bring up blog posts labeled with that label.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR

WINTER ADVICE

Note: Double click pictures for higher resolutions.

The
solstice, Christmas and New Years are all behind us. While it was not
packed full to overflowing the Old Rag parking lot still had around 100 cars in it. The days are
gradually getting longer but average high temperatures will continue to
decrease until later this month before they begin to warm. Of course
those are average temperatures. You could have an anomalous 70 degree day in
January and a 20 degree day in March.

The
park has a web page that provides the weather in the park above 2,000
feet and is a good resource it can be found by following these links

On the main page click on "Plan Your Visit"

On the next page click on "Things To Know Before You Come"

On the next page click on "Weather"

On the next page click on "Park Weather Forecast above 2,000 ft (NOAA)"

.REST OF THIS AFTERNOON...MUCH COLDER. SUNNY. HIGHS 6 TO 12 ABOVE.TEMPERATURES STEADY OR SLOWLY FALLING THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON. WINDCHILL VALUES AS LOW AS 14 BELOW. .TONIGHT...COLD...CLEAR. LOWS AROUND 1 BELOW. WIND CHILL VALUES ASLOW AS 14 BELOW. .WEDNESDAY...NOT AS COOL. SUNNY IN THE MORNING...THEN BECOMINGPARTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S. WIND CHILL VALUES AS LOW AS13 BELOW IN THE MORNING. .WEDNESDAY NIGHT...NOT AS COOL. MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE MID 20S. .THURSDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGHS IN THE MID 30S. .FRIDAY...CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF FREEZING RAIN OR SNOW THROUGH THE DAY.LOWS IN THE MID 20S. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 40S. .SATURDAY...CLOUDY. SHOWERS LIKELY. LOWS IN THE MID 30S. HIGHS INTHE LOWER 50S.

$$

Expect Old Rag's Summit to have wind speeds 10-20 mph greater than down on the Piedmont.

Especially in winter you want to "Plan Ahead and Prepare" (a Leave No Trace principal.)

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

I
have found numerous spots between the first false summit and Byrds
Nest Shelter where I can get cell-phone reception. I usually keep my cell-phone in airport-mode and then turn it on when I want to try and make a
call. When I first turn off airport-mode it is not unusual for me to have no bars for 3-5 minutes and
then suddenly get three bars.

If you take one of the SNP's white
trail maps the Park's emergency number is listed on it. It is not a
bad idea for you to have punched it into your phone under SNP
Emergency. The number is800-732-0911.

If
you can not get a cell phone to work there is a box with an emergency
phone in it on the outside of the Contact Station (park visitor's left
side same as the interpretive roofed sign).

RESPONSE TIMES

If
you have a non-ambulatory party member high on the mountain expect
that your party will need to keep them warm for at least
2-4 hours (6-12 would be safer) before responders arrive on-scene. Once the responders arrive plan on them needing 10-plus hours
to get the injured party transferred into a rescue vehicle. Of course
there are no set rules and many factors play a part in what the response time will be... time of day, location of
the injured party, weather conditions, and many others.

Times mentioned above assume the weather and
conditions are such that park vehicles/staff can drive on both the regular
roads and the park's fire roads. Anything that keeps park
vehicles from driving up to Old Rag Shelter will cause additional
response delays. The fire roads are not
plowed or treated. After a heavy wind, ice, snow, or rain storm large trees blown across
fire roads may not be removed for several days.

GOOD SAMARITANS

In
my opinion all parties that might have contact with a
non-ambulatory injured party when winter temps are in the teens should assume that hypothermia is an extreme risk unless it is clear that
the injured person's party is well equipped to keep them warm and
dry.

POOR PLANNING

I often come across hikers high on the mountain late on cold windy winter days described by one or all of the following
conditions:

Fairly
light clothes on their body with either no pack on at all or an
extremely small day pack on that suggests they do not have a lot of
available extra warm stuff to wrap up a non-ambulatory member of their
party and or keep themselves warm if they have to stand around waiting
for hours.

Light
approach shoes with no micro-traction assists. Mid-Atlantic trails
with even just a 1-3 inch base of packed snow/ice can get incredibly
slippery. Note: front country level side walks and parking
lots routinely have icy slip and falls that lead to serious injuries.
Old Rag trails are not usually level and often have sharp rocks sticking
up to bang heads or break bones on.

They tell me they have no lights except their flashlight app on their phone.

Their entire party is doing Old Rag for the first time.

They ask me how long to the summit or too get back to their car and have no map.

No concept of the ten essential systems for hiking in the backcountry:

I have nick-named the first trail-side large spheroidal boulder going up the Ridge Trail the Dumb-As-A-Box-Of-Rocks-Memorial-Boulder aka Dumb-As -Rocks-Memorial-Boulder. (see blog
label list for a picture) I have had my share of dumb moments and I am
glad this rock can stand in testament to my less than intelligent prior
actions. I am not so glad but bemused, that many of Old Rag's visitors
seem to be on a pilgrimage in honor of this proud specimen of granite's
tribute to human foibles.

Days
are still short and the sun never gets very high in the sky. At this
time of year it only is about 30 degrees off the horizon at high noon.﻿

There
are many types of micro traction devices for your feet this time of
year. I happen to like Kahtoola Micro ﻿Spikes but there are plenty of
other products that will serve. Below is a picture of my Kahtoola
Micro Spikes and a link to REI's catalog page :

The
following two pictures of blow downs across the trail are here is
support for the PATC or SNP trail maintainers they are located just a
short ways down from R7(the current wet spot) or several hundred feet
after the first set of two sharp switchback turns:﻿

Views
from the first false summit just before R20 and the beginning of the
rock scramble at R22. This can be a great turn around spot. If it
was the actual summit and there was no more it would still probably be
one of the favorite hikes in the park. That said, there is plenty more
interesting hiking between here and the Old Rag's actual summit.